L'Arc en Ciel
by Rogue Vector
Summary: It's no secret that Jaune Arc wanted to become a popular guy. He never quite expected for it to actually happen. From the smallest of favors comes the days which follow. Basically, taking a bunch of cliches and making them work. Reviews appreciated. Enjoy!
1. A new Arc begins!

**I've been seeing a lot of people writing Jaune saving Velvet being bullied.**

**Here's my swing on that, as well as other shipping cliches. Yeah, it's going to end in Jaune getting himself a harem...**

**Please post a review if you enjoyed the chapter!**

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_I only wish I owned RWBY, and was anywhere near as awesome as Monty Oum. I wouldn't mind a job offer from Rooster Teeth, all said and done..._

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Prestige, experienced teachers, talented students, amazing facilities and a breathtaking view.

A few among many things Beacon Academy was known for.

If there was one thing Beacon was _not_ known for, Velvet knew, it was a quiet breakfast.

The brunette with the gunhammer was rowdy for sure, as was the one in the red hood and the blonde joining the table, but that wasn't bothering her either; even the tap tap tap of the blonde human scribbling on his paper while he gulped down cereal the hubbub of students waking up, eating, drinking… the clatter of cutlery on plates, the rattle of spoons in their cups, packaging being ripped open, food being spilled (oops) and the scrape of seats...

None of that bothered her.

She was used to it, being a city girl.

Many people thought loud noises would bother a rabbit faunus, but despite the high sensitivity of her ears, so was her tolerance for noise.

Things that did bother her, though, wasn't really loud so much as it was obnoxious. And rude.

And wouldn't stop pulling on her ears.

Worse still, there were _four_ of them.

"Hey, quit it will ya!?" Velvet made to push away the hands tugging at her ears, too slowly given her current disadvantage. Unlike last time, they had caught her with her tray still laden with breakfast in her hands. While they were annoying, the faunus wasn't about to give up her first meal in twelve hours - and her ever-precious coffee - to four idiots and their petty amusement. Oh, if only she could kick them... she grit her teeth and tried to pull herself free, and did for a brief moment, before another hand seized her sensitive ear and squeezed.

"Ow! Hey, that hurts!" She tried to skip back a step and get away, but there were four of them and they had her boxed in all too well. Eight arms to her two (barely one, if she didn't want to lose her breakfast), all reaching out and pulling, pulling, pulling! The stinging pain of having her ear pulled made her wince, jerking back instinctively - which only brought another sharp spike of pain hammering into her skulls. Velvet let out a little yelp, which got them laughing again, wishing for all the world that she wasn't so tied down, both literally and metaphorically.

Beacon was a home for Hunters and Huntresses in training, after all, and with all the students being trained for combat fights between hormonal teenagers was inevitable. The school had already been clear about their zero tolerance policy, and Velvet knew that it would be double for any faunus who couldn't control their 'primitive instincts'.

If she threw the first punch in this fight… she was lucky enough to be in Beacon, and being thrown out for kicking these human boys in their heads was not something she wanted happening. The human teachers would say their thing, and while she'd be expelled these four humans would only get a suspension. So she grit her teeth as another tug yanked her head around again, and endured.

She knew that. They knew that. They were more than happy for it.

_Of all the luck…_ She had been bothered by these fools before, but never this badly. Generally they avoided her when she was with her teammates, and she could hear them from far away enough that she could get out of the way if she was alone - these four didn't know the first thing about sneaking.

So... why today, of all days?

And while the four tormented her with shoves that threatened her breakfast, and painful pulls on her animal ears, she noticed something: they were venting on her. Something had bothered them, and she was their punching bag.

The first human reached out again, again pulling at the soft appendage, and let out another one of his cruel chuckles. "Aww, c'mon, I thought you liked us touching them?"

"Hey, maybe she wants us to touch something else instead?" Suggested another, already making a crude groping motion with his hand. "Maybe she's got a tail to match?"

If there weren't four of them… The faunus grit her teeth and tried again to wriggle free, slowly feeling the pressure of anger build up in her stomach and flushing her cheeks a bright red.

_Dammit, I gotta get out of here!_

Velvet let out a quiet mewl as another seized her ears - gripping both - and pulled them apart. She shrieked and furiously held back the urge to lash out with a leg.

_Are they trying to rip them off or something!?_

"Hey, Cardin!"

Another voice? Velvet was thankful for a moment, as the hands grabbing her ears relaxed their grip, but eventually that gave way to despair on the inside, despite her keeping up an angry facade. A new idiot? This wasn't going to end well. She braced herself for that fifth set of hands to join in, but found herself being left alone as the four bullies decided to focus their attention on the newcomer instead.

The biggest of the humans - their leader, she had quickly determined- seemed to be surprised for a moment, before setting himself defensively, hackles rising. "What is it, Jaunie? Come to be a hero again?"

Again? There was something in that voice of his. A sudden bitterness adding onto the hate. Her ears picked out so many layers of meaning in that one word. The faunus dared to look up, and saw that the subject of her tormentor's attention was a blonde boy, coming closer, his eyes bright with… wait, was it determination?

'Jaunie' stopped a few feet short - just out of arm's reach - and unslung his bag.

"Remember the Forever Fall field trip?" He asked, arching his eyebrow. Velvet frowned as she noticed her bullies suddenly tense up; on edge, they were a word away from starting a fight. She figured it would be the big one that started it, too.

The blonde's eyes flicked back and forth, sizing up the opposition, before he unzipped the bag. A weapon, Velvet wondered. Why would he get into a fight for me?

_No_, she realized, _it was a folder._

The four members of CRDL stepped forward to slowly surround the blonde. Cardin and his lackey's eyes tracked the manilla folder as Jaune untucked it from his bag, holding it up to draw everyone's attention to it. "You told me to write that report for Professor Oobleck, didn't you? About the Faunus war? Did one about the Battle of Menagerie Plains, one where the Faunus forces were sent running."

"Yeah…" The brown haired bully slowly edged out, eyes narrowing in suspicion. As he saw the report being held out to him, a cruel smile was slowly forming on his lips; hurt pride was quickly reasserting itself as he saw the status quo being restored in his favor. Cardin stepped forward, more confident now, and reached out for the report.

"Good to see you know where we stand, Arc." He teased, fishing for a reaction.

"Sure, Cardin." Jaune nodded quickly, meekly. He held out the folder and let the bully take it without a second glance. The blonde checked over his shoulder to the clock, and gave a quiet smile. "Gotta run."

"See you later, Jaunie." Smiled Cardin. The blonde waved them goodbye, and disappeared into the cafeteria. "Let's meet after class, alright? I'm sure we'

He turned, confidence redoubled, and gawked in surprise at what was waiting for him.

Or rather, what wasn't. The faunus girl had completely disappeared into the crowd around them, while the others had been focused on Jaune. A few of the faces surrounding them were smiling now, unsubtle laughter echoing over the sounds of breakfast being served.

The head bully growled low, glaring at his three lackeys. Each offered apologetic and embarrassed words, trying to soothe his temper, but Cardin brushed them off as he paced over to his bag.

That animal might have been lucky she had gotten away, but at least he had his report. He had almost forgotten about the order, and had started on his own paper after the Forever Fall incident. Well, it would save him some time, and now that he had Jaune under his thumb again - for no effort at that - he could enjoy even more free time. Maybe have him do the rest of his team's reports to make up for letting their entertainment escape.

Idly, he flipped it open to the first - and only - page. The bully felt a sinking feeling settle into his gut. _Wait, didn't Oobleck tell them to write three pages?_

Cardin flipped the single sheet over and looked at its back. He bent the folder inside out and checked it for anything else that might have been there. A memory disk for him to print out, a folded sheet? Nothing. There was only that one page, and as he read the writing on it - only a handful of words - the bully let out an impotent howl as he threw the folder and paper at the ground, stomping off as his lackeys tried to keep pace and scattering students, ignoring their indignant shouts of protest.

Velvet peered out from around the corner, and sighed in relief as she saw that the blonde had gotten away safely. She did, however, spy the fallen folder. Why had he left that behind? She quickly walked over to it, wondering what had caused so much anger from Cardin. Quickly making her way back, she squatted down and scooped it up, before running back to her stowed away breakfast. The folder itself was unremarkable, as was the paper. She flipped it over, and read it once.

Then twice.

She nearly bent over double with sudden laughter. On the paper it read, with messy pencil writing:

_A Distraction,_

_by J. Arc_

"Arc." She whispered to herself, chuckling and wiping a happy tear from her eyes. Moons above, she hadn't laughed that hard in a while. "I'll remember that."


	2. Pyrrha's Plotting

**Can't actually find enough cliches… so I decided to just write and see what happened. That's probably why this chapter doesn't have much happening. I'd appreciate any advice/suggestions, as well as any reviews. Thing's will start to pick up starting next chapter, though.**

**As always, enjoy!**

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Pyrrha tapped her finger on the paper as she sat in the slowly filling lecture theatre, staring at her notepad as she let her mind wander as the students sat in the lecture hall, waiting for Oobleck to appear.

It should at this point be noted that this was literal: Oobleck appeared.

He didn't walk through the door, he didn't drop down from the ceiling and he most certainly did not come in riding a unicycle while juggling uncut burn crystals (that was Professor Samuel Greene's first and most memorable). Come the time for the lecture to begin, Professor Bartholomew Oobleck would appear and (in many ways of speaking) hit the ground running as if he was being chased by a hungry death stalker.

Pyrrha knew what that was like all too literally.

She closed her eyes and shook her head. Returning from that tangent, she focused on matters more in the future. Most of her thoughts, perhaps unsurprisingly, were centered around Jaune: in particular was that second night on the roof. The smell of pancakes had clung to her and mixed with the night breeze, in her mind forever linking that midnight snack with their promise.

The redhead remembered fondly her leader's smile; that bashful plea for help, his awkward stance that she couldn't resist taking advantage of… Pyrrha felt the heat rush to her cheeks as she imagined the many different ways that night could have played out from that point.

Especially since Cardin's room had been directly below them.

Shaking her head clear, the redhead smirked as those thoughts caught themselves and quickly retreated. She put pencil to paper, and began writing.

_Morning session with Nora at six, be there as well. Shield work: Needs to stop lowering shield while moving. If I hadn't been there, that Ursa Major would have taken Jaune's head off._

Well, at least she got her first training goal already down, provided that the blond goof didn't get into a fight before breakfast every morning...

And there it was again.

That thought which haunted her since breakfast. Like a metaphorical dark cloud, or a particularly persistent pain in the neck, she closed her eyes and watched again with perfect clarity as Jaune turned around at breakfast and spotted Cardin, his fist wrapped around that girl's ear. His lackey's laughter, cruel and mocking.

That' girl's scream as they pulled.

Then her blonde leader had gotten that look in his eyes. Vibrant and focused; thinking and planning. For a single moment, he was the leader and warrior he wanted to be, just like that moment on the bridge, when he had spotted Ren's handiwork. Moments later, he had pulled four strangers into taking down a death stalker. Together.

Then that look was gone, swept away by his blonde hair as he put his head down, grabbed a pencil, a sheet of paper and her manilla folder.

Which he had yet to return, by the way. She wondered what had become of it.

Pyrrha shook her head, setting her wandering mind back to planning out that training session.

_Hmm… Lunch break we usually have a spare hour… not enough for an actual session, so maybe we could have Jaune train with Ren then? From what Nora told me, he's really good with his Aura. Maybe he could help Jaune control it better? Much like that overwhelming desire to pick fights and save the girl and... well..._

Pyrrha had to admit that how to go about starting fights and saving people was exactly what she, Jaune and every other student here at Beacon was here to learn. Four years, it took, and it seemed that Jaune had already learned more than she did with the whole damsel in distress part than she did.

_Ugh. If he ever found that out he'd never let it go… though he never struck me as that kind of person. What to do next... Offense? His sword's pretty similar to mine, maybe I could teach him a few of the tricks that Leona taught me back in Sanctum? Speaking of swords, I should ask him when he last maintained it. I thought I saw some nicks a little while back…_

She had promised him that she would help him become a better fighter, and while it definitely meant that she would teach him how to fight, maintaining weapons would be just as important, too. No matter how competent he became, as a leader and as a warrior it would be unseemly for one to be incapable of maintaining his own weapons. Jaune would become a danger to himself and his team.

Pyrrha scribbled a note to include him in her daily ritual of maintaining her weapons as she also pencilled in a sparring session in the evening, setting it after classes but before dinner, making another note to see Goodwitch later to reserve one of the fighting pits for the two of them.

Jaune was here. Pyrrha didn't even need to turn as behind her there was a crash and synchronized - although different - yelps of surprise. Given the voices and the words exchanged soon after, Pyrrha figured that Ruby had just opened the door into her leader's face. The redhead finally decided to turn as she saw him making his way down the aisle of the theatre, rubbing his nose. He sat down in JNPR's usual spot in this particular lecture theatre. Pyrrha turned to face him as he sat and began to dig through his bag.

As soon as he settled in, she decided to broach the topic that had been bothering her the entire morning. "Jaune, about this morning…"

The blonde looked up, a hand still holding onto his bruised nose as the redheaded amazon of JNPR sat down beside him. She had a stern look to her, one that she had been wearing ever since he had rejoined them at breakfast this morning. It was a blend of disappointment, worry and ever growing frustration.

He could guess why.

"Uh… Hi, Pyrrha. I was just looking for you. You know your folder, well…"

"I saw everything." She cut in, perhaps a little accusingly. Actually, probably a lot accusingly. "Look, Jaune, I know you want to improve yourself, but what you did this morning was just..."

Pyrrha stopped short as she tried to find the words. But it seemed that the silence were words enough, as her leader gulped down the sudden nervousness he had found trying to crawl out of his gut.

His partner sighed, leveling green eyes to lock with his. Jaune glanced back, but was unable to hold her gaze. They were so unhappy at him, he could even say angry... and worried. Jaune turned back to his notebook, muted by Pyrrha's gaze. She mentally sagged with relief: at least he had the decency to look sheepish as he processed her words - and the lack of them.

After an awkward silence, Jaune said something. "Hey, it's not as bad as starting a fight, was it? All I did was distract him."

"And yes, all went to plan." The redhead sighed, shifting to let her hair mask her small smile. "But what if Cardin had checked to read through it? What if that girl didn't take the hint? What if you ended up starting another fight?"

"Then I would have walked away. Ran, even." He whispered back. "Then they would have chased me instead of her."

Pyrrha stopped, the next part of her quiet rant failing as she ran that scenario through her mind. Cardin would have gotten angry - dangerously so - but would hesitate, knowing what happened back in Forever Fall. And all the while, that faunus girl would have had all the chances and queues she would have needed to know it was time to leave - and with a quickness.

"Well, at least you had something resembling a plan." Pyrrha dryly commented.

JNPR's leader nodded quietly, and sighed. "I didn't want Cardin - or anyone - being hurt like that. They don't deserve that. Nobody does."

"So you did something about it." Yawned Ren, sliding down from the row above them to find his seat beside Jaune. "And you did it well."

Pyrrha flushed red as she sat upright and turned to face him. "Ren, you shouldn't encourage him!"

The black haired gunslinger of JNPR blinked twice, surprised at the outburst from Pyrrha. Or maybe it was because he didn't get enough sleep the last night. Nobody was sure which. "Even you have to admit that I was a total victory."

"I…" Pyrrha paused, sinking back into her seat as her cheeks reddened. Damn those boys. Finally, she sighed. "I still don't have my folder back."

"Oh is that it?" Nora giggled, breathing into her ear. "Certainly, it's nothing to do with him being in danger, is itr?"

JNPR's brunette bruiser set down her bag and pulled down the folding seat, humming happily as she began to unpack her note paper and prepare for class.

The amazon grew even redder as she fumed. No, it wasn't. She wanted to deny it. He was reckless, and inexperienced and... and...

"Fine." She growled. "Fine. He did... Okay. We still need to work on it, though. If you're going to pull off a stunt like that again, have someone to back you up. We're your team, Jaune, and we'll always be behind you."

"Doubly so if I get to break a leg." Grinned Nora.

Ren shot her a stern look and chipped in with his now-customary "Nora!"

Jaune smiled weakly and nodded. "Thanks, Pyrrha. I will. I'm... I'm sorry, alright, I just saw what was happening, and..."

"I know." The redhead answered, matching his nod with one of her own.

The moment passed, and the team's attention drifted away from each other. Pyrrha went back to scribbling on her paper, Ren began napping again and Nora amused herself with her Scroll, powering up a little game that involved smashing blocks.

Pyrrha noticed, from the corner of her eye, as Jaune's attention slid down from her face and to her hands; his eyebrows knotted together as he spotted the paper she had been scribbling on. "Hey, Pyrrha... what's that?"

She started, looking up from the page she had been writing smiled, honey sweet, as she pulled up her sheet of paper labelled 'TRAINING SCHEDULE: JAUNE' and pointed at the first item. "By the way; Nora, Jaune, what do you think about a training session in the mornings?"

Jaune gulped.


End file.
